Any 'catters happen to know whence this "trad & anon" round made its earliest appearances? I've found most of the variant lyrix, but nothing pointing to a country or era. 4 reference, here's the version I learned:

White coral bells, upon a slender stalk, Lilies-of-the-valley deck the garden walk. O don't you wish that you could hear them ring? That can only happen [or "happen only"] when the fairies sing!^^

i was just recommending that someone look up White Coral Bells in the Digi-Trad when lo and behold it is not there! The lyrics were posted in this thread but the song did not get entered into the data base.

this page has a midi melody of a prayer written to the same tune. http://www.users.ms11.net/~gsong/Graces/tune/coralbell.html

Boy, there sure isn't much about the song in the Traditional Ballad Index. They found it in the Prairie Home Companion Folk Song Book (Pankake), but not in any of the other sources they have indexed. Seems like very few books spend much time documenting rounds. I think I learned it from my little sister, who learned it in Girl Scouts. -Joe Offer-

White Coral Bells

DESCRIPTION: "White coral bells upon a slender stalk, Lilies of the valley (line/grace) my garden walk. Oh don't you wish that you could hear them ring? That will only happen when the (angels/fairies) sing."AUTHOR: unknownEARLIEST DATE: 1916 (as "May Bells," in the "Fourth Year" volume of the "Hollis Dann Music Course")KEYWORDS: nonballadFOUND IN: USREFERENCES (1 citation):Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 268, "White Coral Bells" (1 text)Notes: One of the tiny handful of songs in my mother's singing tradition. Seems to be a genuine folk song, even if no one knows what it's supposed to be about. Jack Manischewitz, who did the research leading to the 1916 date for the May Bells variant, has found a number of people who also know the song from early life. He notes that the 1916 publication listed no author, although authors were listed for most of the other pieces. This would imply, at minimum, that the copyright had expired by 1916, which would hint at a nineteenth century origin. - RBWFile: PHCFS268

I thought it was a Girl Scout standard from long ago. I have a first edition (1949) of Sing Together from the Girl Scouts, and it doesn't have the song. It does appear in the third edition (1973), which says it's traditional, taken from the 1966 edition of Exploring Music 4 (Holt, Rinehart, Winston). Exploring Music says it's traditional and doesn't give any more information. So, that takes it back to 1966, the year I graduated from high school. I guess that's ancient history - at least my kids think it is. -Joe Offer-

This round is in 101 Plus 5 Folk Songs for Camp, edited by Mike Cohen (Oak, 1966, p. 104); and in Songs of Man, edited by Norman Luboff and Win Stracke (Prentice-Hall, 1965, p. 189), which says it is "An American version of a Round which is English in origin."

Tom Glazer's Treasury of Folk Songs for the Family, pub. 1964, notes "This song may have come from Germany or Holland. There is some evidence of this, though not conclusive". Might give a new direction for search.

I'm sure that we were singing "White Coral Bells" at Girl Scout camp in Wisconsin in 1960, and I know that it seemed like an old song then. We were told that Girl Scouts sang it because Juliet Low, our founder, loved lilies of the valley, and also that they were in her bridal bouquet.

When I taught it to girls, we always sang it as a round or canon. It's a pretty song.

I always think fo the chorus of Rosalee Sorrells' song about Bells of Ireland when i hear WCB. It goes:

These are the bells of Ireland That in my garden grow My great grandmother brought the seeds From Ireland long ago Their music it is sweet and sad Like orphan angels sing If you listen in your heart you'll Hear those Bells of Ireland ring.

Bells-of-Ireland usually called Green Shell Flower here (western Canada). Our season is a little short, but this annual will grow here with a little protection. I guess it got its name from the color, but it is an eastern Mediterranean plant, imported into Ireland (Molucella laevis).

About "White Coral Bells"---I learned it at Camp Fire Girls Camp in Texas in about 1954. Many years later, I was visiting historic Williamsburg and in one of the restored houses, I saw an object made of a curved metal wire with a wooden handle. From the wire were suspended a dozen or so little white beads made of coral, fashioned to look like bell-shaped flowers. It looked just like a lilly-of-the-valley stalk. The label said something like, "Coral Bells: Used in the Colonial Period as a baby's rattle." Suddenly I could hear "White Coral Bells" in my mind, and the words made sense for the first time.

"The Ditty Bag," 1946, is still the earliest printed reference found so far. It seems to have appeared in both the Burdett and Follett series of school song books in the mid 50s. In the Follett series "Together We Sing," it is in the 1956 edition, but not in my 1952 edition.

I can't remember NOT knowing this round, and I was born in 1943. I would have learned it through my mother or her friends, all active in folk music in the 1930s-40s-50s, and later. I seem to remember it being seminal in my "aha" moment of the basic nature of a "round". I don't remember ever seeing it in a book. Tw

I sang it in elementary school in Flint, Michigan. That would have been in the early 50's. Also sang in in Girl Scout. I can thank Girl Scouting for teaching me so many songs, which I now would call Folk Songs. Back then, I just thought they were "Girl Scout Songs." I love getting out my old girl scout song books and singing those songs. Isn't it wonderful how our brains store music. Hear a song from over 50 years ago, and still be able to sing the words. Might not recall lots of other things, but music... it stays there.

Q, you're right, heuchera is what gardeners now call White Coral Bells. But the song specifically says it is referring to Lilies of the Valley.

I learned it in 2nd or 3rd grade (1947 or 1948). We used to have music assemblies where they taught us what I guess I would call "heritage" songs. Some were folk, some were "old favorites." I'm grateful for those assemblies, they are a happy memory and I still remember some of the songs.

Here are the words I remember (amazing that the folk process can affect even a 4 line round....)

"White coral bells, upon a slender stalk, Lilies of the valley deck my garden walk. Oh, how I wish that I could hear them ring -- That will happen only when the fairies sing."

Later, I think I decided that if the flowers were "decking" the walk, you wouldn't be able to walk there, so I started singing it,

"Lilies of the valley line my garden walk."

Somehow I'm glad to know it's supposed to be "deck," just because that is how I learned it first. Silly huh?

Just been and found my old Girl Guide song book. Although all the songs in it were written up later, I probably first sang it when I was a Brownie, in England, in about 1957.

In my handwritten song book I've got 'Doth', crossed out, replaced by 'Down' but I like 'Deck' much better! Otherwise the same words as Ferrara, 3 or 4 posts ago except that I have 'only happen' not 'happen only'. (I notice the first posting to the thread gives both)

When I read the lyrics in this thread I thought it was saying white coral bells AND lilies of the valley by using the comma. Like a list, but with only two items in the list. "white coral bells, lilies of the valley"

So there is a flower, then a description, then another flower and another description.

Just me maybe, but looking at it for the first time without a tradition of having heard it sung before or having seen the words. The words aren't in the Sylvia Woods book, I don't think (from memory) because seeing them here was a surprise to me.

Joybell, thanks for asking around in Vic.

I'm interested in the folk process for this song, because rounds like this tend to travel fairly well, especially through the Brownies/Guides/Scouts network but also generally, and through school music, etc. It intrigues me that this one may have escaped the notice of Oz music people.

At the moment, though, I'm only going by my own epxerience and Joybell's info gathering. I'd still be interested to know if other Oz 'Catters have sung this tune at school, or in other contexts.

I frequently sketch memories of old events- coming across an old sketch is as good as - or better - than a photo of the same thing. And sure enough, I have a sketch of me and my brother riding horses side by side...The words above our heads are: White coral bells... Upon a slender stalk...

My father was a horse trainer, so many of my oldest memories involve horses.

I can't recall any appearance of ths song in Australian Scouting circles ... and, comimg from a family of four boys (spread over 16 years!) and no sisters ... and with both parents involved in the Scouting side (Mum was Akela of 1st Bankstown Cubs ... and Dad was Distict Scoutmaster of Lakemba) ... I had no exposure to the Guiding side.

Dad helped put together the first Australian Boy Scout Song Book ... but this song/round would not have been there.

I learned this originally from a coloring book, of all places! I think it was a Chipmunks book, and depicted the Chipettes working in a garden; this would have been sometime in the mid 80s. My mother saw the book and remembered the melody from when she was a girl and taught it to my sister and me. Nice to have this thread to show me how long the song has been around!

My cousin Nicki would, I'm sure, be very surprised to know she was among the song's earliest singers (at least as so far noted here). I heard her sing it in the mid to late 1940s. Not sure of her source, likely either school or camp. She didn't sing it as a round, but as a solo.

I always assumed it was a commercially produced song, from the sound of it. Bob

My mother taught this song to me when I was a little girl in the 80's. I'm 31 now and we still get silly and sing it together as a round every now and then. My mother was born in 1939 and she remembers learning it as a little girl herself, so the earlier post about being dated back to the 40's seems right to me. The lyrics my mother taught me are as follows:

White coral bells upon a slender stalk Lily-of-the-Valley deck my garden walk Oh how I wish that you could hear them ring That will happen only when the fairies sing

I believe this is different than any other lyrics posted in this thread because of the "that you could hear" instead of "that I could hear" but all in all it's the same song and a very lovely one at that. I will forever treasure this song and will pass it on to my children if I have any in the future. It will always remind me of my mother and will keep her close to my heart forever.

I stumbled into this group when trying to research some songs appropriate for Renaissance Faires (for English and Gaelic characters). A perfomer of children's songs told me this would be appropriate for the Renaissance Faires without any historical documentation. I'm very glad to see your group sites sources as much as you can. I have two cents to add after reading the discussion. I believe that Heuchera are California natives (at least I remember reading of one in a book on California natives written by an author from UC Berkeley). According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Convallaria majalis (lily of the valley) are natives of the North Americas (Eastern) and Eurasia. So I'm going to make a dangerous assumption-leap that the song possibly stems from the North America's then (maybe??)? Or other places of colder weather (the huechera varieties I've seen in California wilt in the heat (triple digits) w/out a lot of water and shade and lily of the valley shrivel and will not bloom above temps in the 65 degrees farenheit range and hotter). I read someone's post about both being popular flowers since the 1700's though. I guess we really have to get a better date on the song to narrow down the location. The other thing we have to take into account is that I'm sure there are other flowers known as "coral bells" or confused with coral bells. And I acknowledge that my assumption could be totally wrong since people may just plant them as annuals in certain places and replace them every year in the fall or winter. Melodically/musically do we have a historical "trace" on the rhythm, pattern of the lines and/or tune? I'm not musically adept, other than I like to sing, so that type research is a bit beyond me. Keep singing!

Odd that I have never heard this song and all three of my sisters and I were in Girl Scouts. I'll have to ask them about it.

When I was growing up, we had coral bells here in Western Colorado; not white, but I always thought they were named that for their coral colour. Then, in a very carefully planned rock garden, my brother also had Lily of the Valley which survived triple digit hot summers. They seem to have even hardier varieties these days.

Kat, the coral to red coral bells are the Heuchera that V. Troyan is talking about. They belong to the Saxifrage Family. Heuchera is North American. The species first called coral bells, H. sanguinea, was first found in Mexico, but it is a hardy perennial and may be grown fairly far north. It was introduced to Europe in the 17th c. It has been hybridized with other species, and is found in gardens in southern Alberta, perennial in sheltered spots. A natural hybrid, Heucherella tierelloides, resembles sanguinea and also is called 'coral bells.' White coral bells belong to the species H. pubescens or one of the hybrids.

Lily of the Valley is a quite different plant, also a hardy perennial. Convallaria majalis as noted above, is white and belongs to the Liliaceae Family. It was introduced to America from Europe. It tends to 'travel,' and often pops up where it is not wanted, squeezing out more desirable plants (My wife loves it, I hate it). Another species, also from Europe, C. rosea, is pink.

The tune is one of those simple things that are almost impossible to trace back; it is so similar to the melodies of other simple songs. The lyrics, of course, are modern.

object made of a curved metal wire with a wooden handle. From the wire were suspended a dozen or so little white beads made of coral, fashioned to look like bell-shaped flowers. It looked just like a lilly-of-the-valley stalk. The label said something like, "Coral Bells: Used in the Colonial Period as a baby's rattle

I very much enjoyed reading about this old folk song that I remember learning as a Brownie in California in the 1950's. I think it was one of the first rounds I learned (along with "Make New Friends"). I found two written sources for the words and they both agreed.

White coral bells upon a slender stalk, Lilies of the valley deck my garden walk. Oh, don't you wish that you could hear them ring? That will happen only when the fairies sing.

One source is a third edition "Sing Together" from 1973 (first edition 1949) that I bought a few years ago. The other source is a very old Camp Manzanita songbook from the late 1950's or early 1960's. This was the Girl Scout camp I attended and was a counselor at in Summer of 1964.

Now, a question - some of you seem to be acquainted with Girl Guides and I'm trying to remember/comfirm the words to a GG marching song I learned about 1963 from a Canadian counselor.

Who are these, swinging along the road With a pack on their back, a song in their heart to ease the load It's been 40(?)years or more since they crowded through the door, But they're coming along as gay and as strong as ever they came before They are guides all guides and in unexpected places You'll meet their friendly faces and a willing hand besides, There's not much danger in finding you're a stranger For commissioner or ranger they are guides, all guides.

Who are these, living beneath the sky While the shimmering sun, the pattering rain and the clouds roll by They will dine beneath the boughs and their leader always vows that they're never afraid of wasps and hardly ever afraid of cows! They are Guides all guides...etc.

Those are the verses in my head, but how close are these words, does anyone know? Is this a real official Girl guide song? I couldn't find it online.

Thanks, nice to find others who have these songs running through their heads too!

I learned this from my older sisters more than forty years ago. We would sing it as a round during long car trips. They said they learned it at Camp Fire Girls in the 50s. We sang it along with "Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold." I just taught it to my wife and she wanted to know where it came from.

As a former Girl Scout, Girl Scout leader and Campfire leader I was thrilled to see this discussion of a favorite song. I worked at Camp El Deseo in Cuba, New Mexico in the 60's and we sang it there substituting "White yucca bells" for coral bells and "lilies of the desert" for lilies of the valley.

My mother, born in 1921, taught me this song from her childhood, so that puts it in the late '20s, early '30s at least. She probably won't remember now--she has dementia--but I know she was in an organization called Girl Reserves. (What relation, if any, this group had to Girl Scouts I do not know.)

The other song I associate with my mother's youth goes like this: "Like snow-white sailing boats/ On a blue sea' High in the heavens are/ Clouds floating free./ If I could fly to one [them?],/ If I could ride on one [them?],/ Sailing and sailing what/ Pleasure 'twould be."

I sang this song in a Michigan public elementary school in the late 50's, early 60's. My mom remembered it, as well. It seems to me that any music that she knew from early elementary school came from ancient piano method books, and personal favorites of the only teacher in a rustic upper-peninsula one room school. This school teacher was also the only piano teacher for miles, and happened to live with my mother's family all through the depression.

The John Thompson books that I learned to play from contained many sailing and sea songs..."Drifting" (Light is thy bark, brother, rest(or bend) on your oars, fair are the winds and the tide..." Perhaps other earlier lesson texts give origins of those two songs.

Which leads me to ask: My sister and I have sung this duet for our whole lives...Does anyone know this song? we think that it's called "On the Deep"-

On the deep around us, towering billows rise- In its fury bounding to the dark'ning skies. Leagues of angry ocean lash to raging foam. Wildly roar between us and the light of home.

I first learned this song in grade school in the mid 60s. I came across this thread today as I was trying to find additional words. We had not sung it as a round and I was sure there must be more words I just wasn't remembering. It's nice to know I had the whole thing. I have already taught it to my four year old daughter. It's one of her favorites.

(1) White Choral Bells (regardless of how it may appear in print elsewhere) because "don't you wish that you could hear them ring"--they make music--and besides, white and coral are 2 different colours. (2) Thanks to Cooper for a 2nd verse to the Girl Guide marching song (in fact, I think it's called "The Girl Guide Marching Song", but I might be wrong about that). It is in my opinion the best Guide song, cheerful, friendly, welcoming, and full of esprit de corps, pride in Guide history, good for hiking to, and not invoking anyone's religion or any tired old army lyrics. The words for the 1st verse, as I remember having sung them (and my memory might be faulty) are only slightly different from those posted by Cooper:

Who are we, marching along the road, with a pack on our back, a song in our hearts to ease the load? It's been 40 years or more [today Guides must surely sing "100 years or more", instead!] since we crowded through the door [refers to Guides crowding into a room where Boy Scouts were first organizing, to demand that they be included in the movement--a feminist action!] And we're coming along as gay and strong As ever we came before: We are Guides, all Guides, and in unexpected places You'll meet our friendly faces And a ready hand, besides-- And there's not much danger Of finding you're a stranger, For, Commissioner or Ranger, we are Guides--all Guides!

I don't know for certain, but I think there no longer is the rank of Commissioner, in Guides. That was a high-ranking district leader.

oops--lyrics I posted for the Guide marching song should have said, "song in our heart"--singular, not plural, of 'heart'.

I learned White Choral Bells (a poetic description of lily of the valley), and Make New Friends, and the Guide marching song--all songs mentioned in previous posts by others here--as a Brownie and then a Girl Guide, as far back as 1954-5--and they were already old, then. Also of course Land of the Silver Birch, which I believe is a Canadian song ("home of the beaver"!--and of course we're lush with silver birch and still the mighty moose wanders at will). My mother knew White Choral Bells--I think also from when she was a Guide--and she was English (then). The marching song is most likely English in origin. Girls were still singing these songs in the 60s, when I was a leader. My daughter and granddaughters are still singing them, today(with other Guides).

It's amazing how many people here learned the song at different ages. It just shows you how timeless it really is. I too learned it as a Girl Scout, but in the early 90s. I was just walking around singing it to myself and wondering where it came from and I stumbled upon this site.

I remember this one from elementary-school music class, about 1981 or so. It was specifically taught as a round, to show what rounds were. The word was written as "choral," not "coral," and it was explained to be in reference to bell-like flowers, and to thoughts of how they would sound if they were real bells. Music all but disappeared from the curriculum shortly afterward, here in CA. Such a shame.

Wow- This thread has been going for 7 years. That's impressive. I was born in 86 (yes, i'm a youngin) and my mother used to sing it to me as a luluby. I forgot about it for a realy long time. Then a few months ago it kind of drifted into my head as I was falling asleep, but I couldnt remember it in the morning. not at all. I drove myself nuts trying to remember how it went. I remembered it today at work while doing dishes. It just snaped back into my head and stayed there all day. I came home, looked it up, and found this thread. I had no idea it went back this far. It must go back even further than any of the writen documents, judging by the way everyone seems to remember it from their mothers and sisters. I'm going to teach it to my children one day. Thank you so much. This made my day.

yep, sang this as a Girl Guide in Liverpool in the '60's - we sang it as a round. When I became a Guider my Company (or Unit as we had to call them) was a 'singing' unit - it amazed me when visiting others where there was little or no singing.

I learned it in GS when I was little; I was born in 1986. Deployed to Iraq right now. I started humming this song and didn't know why, just a great childhood song. Maybe in a year or so another kid will remember it and find this post :)

I have found White Coral Bells, under the title of May Bells, in "Fourth Year Music," edited by Hollis Dann, published by the American Book Company, of New York, Cincinnati and Chicago, copyright 1916. As presented in this collection, White Coral Bells is exactly the same as I heard it in the 50's, both words and tune, except for the title. Since no composer credits are given, although they are provided for the majority of songs in the book, the song might easily be much older than 1916.

If the flower "white coral bells" is different from "lilies of the valley," as described above by "Q" on 5/10/07, then it's easy to see why the title of "May Bells" would have been more appropriate than "White Coral Bells;" the latter would only relate to half (1) of the flowers mentioned in the song. On the other hand, the explanations presented above, that "white coral bells" were part of a device made from white coral in colonial times, also seems plausible.

But hey, coral is white when it's dead. When I was a kid in Wisconsin, old people used to bring us back dead coral from their Florida snowbird trips. I suppose it's illegal to transport dead coral nowadays.

"Coral Bells" is the type of flower (Heuchera). They come in several colors, including white. Lily of the valley is a different flower, but shares the bell-like shape. Isn't it clear that the exuberance of the melody and lyrics points to the excitement of seeing TWO kinds of bell-flowers, noticing their delicate little bell-shapes, and thinking of them as part of the fairy-world? (Lots of fairy drawings show them drinking from lilies of the valley, using them as bonnets, as bells, as bowls, etc. Their tiny delicacy makes them seem like a big white flower bell that was miniaturized.)

I learned "White Coral Bells" as a Brownie in Day Camp,Hills and Dales Park,Dayton,Ohio,1952. For the rest of my scouting days (to 1961)it was a standard campfire song. Also, on the subject of the Guide's song,there's a third verse I learned in Girl Scout Camp (Camp Whip-Poor-Will Hills,Morrow,Ohio)in 1953.

"Who are these,a-singing around the fire? They'll be happy to have your company, If that is your desire. Fun is on the way At the sunset hour of day, With a song to sing,a tale to tell,and many a tune to play. They are Guides,all Guides, And in unexpected places, You'll see their friendly faces, And a ready hand besides. There's not much danger, Of finding you're a stranger, For Commissioner or Ranger they are Guides (double clap here), All Guides."

Thank you for this wonder thread on these old Scouting songs. I adored being a Scout and my memories of the singing in camp and meetings are such happy ones. I,too,went to Camp Manzanita in the Angeles Crest Forest outside LA (1959)and still have the small paperback song book you could buy in the store there.

A MIDI of the first half is given right at the top of this thread. The complete tune as sheet music I found here. I tried it out with my software SonneLematine, of course transposed down to suit my bass-baritone, and found it a challenge. Girl Scouting seems to have the miraculous effect that even contraltos can reach a" - what do we need fairies for, then? Resp. would Girl Scouts actually hear the flowers ring? Or is that a hallucination due to exhausted breath? Keep singing till the lungs burst! Alex

So I guess we have England about 1920, that would fit both the tune and the text. Holland and Germany seem to be unsupported, or does anyone know about that evidence "cetmst" wrote about above, back in '03?

The Bells in the title must be flowers; if they were anything more rigid, you wouldn't need fairies to sound them. Actually the tune is not the best round ever written, simplistic in style and wasteful in ambitus, as Alex S rightly points out. It is the text that makes the song attractive: neo-romantic lyrics without any intellectual ambitions, as if made for a Girl Scout's friendship book. So I guess the melody was composed after the text, which is another argument contra a non-English provenance.

PS: I must add that of course there are many Girl Scouts with intellectual ambitions, even successful ones, but it is in the best traditions of Scouting not to display them unnecessarily in order not to shame one's companions.

Anybody have Fourth Year Music by Hollis Dann so we can verify that 1916 date and check for origins? I have grades 2, 3, and 5 - but not 4. I've checked, and the earliest reference I can find is the 1939 Cokesbury Game Book. I'm not doubting the source above that cites the 1916 Hollis Dann book, but I'd like to see if we can glean for more details. -Joe-

Indeed, Joe, I had overlooked Jack M.'s contribution above who seems to testify as an eye-witness. He writes he saw the same lyrics and melody, just the title being added. This puts us back to America and 1916, and we should search for an origin earlier than that.

"open mike" gives a version for mouth organ that has the melody repeated. This makes it effectively a two-part round with two stanzas, each having exactly the melody given by the MIDI.

In other sources I know, including "Alex S"'s sheet, the lines 3 and 4 have their own melody, making a full four-voiced round. Which version is found in the old sources? And which one did you learn and sing?

My guess is that the extra melody has been added later to fill the four-part harmony at the expense of melodic consistency and general singability.

Thanks to all. Unfortunately I have to leave right now (on a jet plane ...) and I won't be able to access mudcat for a couple of months. Therefore I must thank "Q" and any future contributors in advance. My friends here, who are as interested as I am, will continue to watch this thread and inform me about any progress. Have a goot time!

The books I own and many internet sources give exactly the melody of the MIDI file posted here. Many others don't give any melody, but assert that it's a two part round. Therefore I think that this has always been the standard version.

The version in four parts linked above I found in one other place only, in C major. In my opinion, it's clearly apocryphal. Since the four lines of the text form a tight unit, the desire for such an extention is quite understandable. So it may not be too much of a sacrilege that I propose one of my own making, much easier to sing and sounding better, I hope:

I just found another source with four parts: The book "Earth and Nature Songs" by Jerry Silverman. The melody is almost the same as given by Alex, but rises even a full tone higher (up to transposition)! That book is well known in Europe, so the melody given there can't be considered totally spurious.

Q sent me a scan from the Hollis Dann Music Series, Fourth Grade Music book (1916). It's more-or-less the same tune as I posted before from the 1973 Girl Scouts Singing Together songbook, mostly a difference in enharmonic spelling. But since the 1916 version is the earliest we've found, I've posted it. Thanks, Q. -Joe-

European Lily of the Valley, May Bells, Our Lady's Tears, are all names for the same plant, Convallaria majalis. It grows from Zome 4 to zone 8. All parts of the plant are poisonous if ingested. Attractive to bees, butterflies. Invasive, can become a noxious weed in certain situations.

White coral bells belong to Heuchera The cultivar Silver Scrolls has white to near-white flowers. Cultivars of Heuchera sanguinea have flowers that may be white, pink, or shades in between. Heuchera pubescens is always white to near-white. Also attractive to bees.

I am astounded to find this. Both its longevity and how many people have been touched by this song.

I am particularly thankful to the 2003 post about a child's Colonial rattle and the years later reference to that post.

Here is a reference from the web: Under the Ralph Willard Tower Antique Show:'An oil on canvas framed portrait...of a child holding a silver rattle with coral and bells. This childhood artifact of the 18th century usually consisted of a sterling silver tubular body terminating in a whistle...a small polished piece of red or orange coral for teething would be fixed at the end opposite the whistle... They were well known in Colonial America.'

The Worcester Art Museum has a portrait of a child (2nd portrait)with a similar rattle by Joseph Badger and they also have references to similar silver and gold rattles at Yale and in New York. They apparently were made both here and in England.

An Article in Antique Digest on line called "Magic Bells" refers to the magic protective quality of coral.

And this:"From earliest times coral has been used as an amulet to protect children from childish diseases and teething troubles. In Mediterranean lands a string of tiny coral branches or beads is still kept on a child's cradle or placed about its neck immediately after its birth. If worn throughout childhood, coral was believed to have power to make the girl beautiful; it preserved her youth and beauty until as a mother she sacrificed her beads for her children."also from the web.

So I had an Oh My moment similar to one of your members who concluded that coral bells "are" lily of the valley. It is a metaphor. The protection of the garden walk by flower amulets would be best understood by children using one of their familiar toys.

"Choral Bells" works metaphorically as well but I think the association with the nursery is stronger. It is possible that it is a play on words protected by no early written versions.

I too have had this in my head for decades. As I grew up I was puzzled by the reference to a different flower in the sentence but I feel comfortable now that this is not an issue of identifying flowers correctly.

I think it is entirely possible that these rattles were actually called 'Coral Bells' and if that were true I think all could rest this case.(without a date!) It would be wonderful to find a nursery reference of Coral Bells as the proper name for the rattle and not just descriptive.

When I was growing up in Connecticut, mother had a bed (15'x 15')of what she referred to as Colonial Lily of the Valley. She told me that she and my father had dug the starter plants for it from a Colonial bed near what is now Colchester. She always had a bouquet, 10" across, in a bowl when they were in bloom. She dug some for me and I have them in my kitchen garden where they have been happily spreading in moist soil and filtered light, protecting us (as I have now learned) from evil spirits.

Here's to the next decade(s)of celebrating "Coral Bells"! Thank you all. MSL

Logging in to say hello and to refresh this thread! I have a gig tomorrow to play campfire songs for 9-year-old girls and, never having done it before, I have been surfing the 'net for songs remembered from my own 9-year-old-ness. Count on good ol' Mudcat to have a thread about "White Coral Bells"! It's been a pleasure to read through it and learn so much about the song (and the plant) (and the rattle)!

I come down on the side of those who feel that "white coral bells upon a slender stalk" is simply a poetic description of the Lily-of-the-Valley blooms. The blooms are white, they're delicate like coral (not coral-pink in color, since they're white!), and they look like bells. I don't believe that any reference to a second plant variety (Heuchera) was intended, and I would suggest resisting the urge to over-analyze the song in a way that would include this second plant in it. After all, the blooms of the Heuchera plant mentioned in this thread don't resemble little bells that one would wish to hear being rung by fairies... but the blooms of the Lily-of-the-Valley plant do! Therefore, this being a very short song/poem, I believe that the author was "staying on topic" by discussing only ONE plant variety.

I'm intrigued by the sub-topic of the colonial-era baby's rattle! I had no idea that coral was used for teething tots back then. I wonder if people soaked the coral in cold water to make it more soothing for baby, just as some of today's teething toys are meant to be refrigerated for baby's comfort.

I love Animaterra's poison-ivy parody of WCB! I will teach it to the kids tomorrow. Thanks, Allison!

Sharon (not lurking much these days, but still coming to Mudcat for information about music as needed!)

Who are these, swinging along the road With a pack on their back, a song in their heart, to ease the load It's been 50 years or more since they walked in through that door, But they're coming along as happy and strong as ever they came before They are guides all guides and in unexpected places You'll meet their friendly faces and a friendly, happy smile, And there's not much danger of finding you're a stranger For commissioner or ranger they are guides, all guides.

Who are these, living in fresh air With the shimmering sun, the pattering rain and mud everywhere They will dine beneath the boughs and their leader always vows that they're never afraid of butterflies and hardly ever of bear! They are Guides all guides...etc.

indeed.I was pretty surprised when I opened this thread to find that the OP was mine! [my OP hadn't included "choral"] This amazing collaboration of scholarship and musicianship on the Mudcat forum represent the very best of sharing.Thanks for the many historical, geographical, botanical, and musical insights.

Not the tune, but the tradition, is alive in Belgium and quite a ot of France as a family good-will May-day gift. Researching Muguet links the symbolism to the Maypole through the norse goddess Eostre. Another descent leads to a Russian folksong made famous in the 1960s, which isn't structurally anywhere close to this tune. What might be within reach is the nursery rhyme associated with the gift, in standard French 18th Century form, but with words which may well be far older, is here. It has a vague parallel to the American version, which makes me think it might be worth looking in either Canadian or Arcadian traditions for a halfway house.

Sang as a Girl Scout in Connectut during 1950's as a round. 1. White coral bells upon s slender stalk. 2. Lilies of the valley deck my garden walk. 3. Oh don't you wish that you could hear them ring. 4. That will only happen when the fairies sing.

Heuchera is called coral bells and comes in white variety. Lily of the valley is a different species.

I think the lyrics clearly have origin in an English speaking country. Melody origin could be different.

Hey Stafford! Good to read your post ~ and glad you're playing your keyboard AND posting to Mudcat. The thread title caught my eye ~ then opened it to find I was the OP. Re-read a lot of the thread ~ great contributions, rather typical of the wonderful tradition of this forum. Keep playing and keep posting. I'll be humming the melody for a while now…keep on pickin'dennis

1. It is an error to start thinking about heuchera and go bumbling off into the realm of the coral bells plant. The song is about lily of the valley.

So why coral bells? In the olden days, jewelry was carved from the pure white stone of coral reefs. I've seen it (I hope antique) for sale in Florida, and it is amazing how radiantly white a matte stone can be. The song is comparing the small white blooms of the lily of the valley to this coral jewelry.

I believe it is now illegal to produce this.

2. When I learned this song at the age of 10, I thought it was really ugly, and when it came time so sing songs in the 4H, I hoped it would be skipped. Fortunately, it usually was.

Decades would pass before I learned what the problem was. The problem was the long I in "white." It is a diphthong, which moves from ah to ee. If you have a number of untrained singers and some are singing ah while others are singing ee, the music seems out of tune. Thus my impression that "White Coral Bells" starts out really sour.

If it was "soft coral bells" or "sweet coral bells", it would come out better. I learned all about diphthongs from a person with a PhD in choral conducting, who was hired to coach our church choir for some big Christmas concerts. What she said made sense, and the way I dealt with it was to stand in front of a good singer and do exactly what she did when singing diphthongs. That way we blended.

Just for fun, I made a MIDI of the song and played it as a round. It's actually quite pretty.

The song is comparing the small white blooms of the lily of the valley to this coral jewelry.

That makes very good sense, leeneia! Now the question arises whether this points us to the USA, perhaps to Florida in particular? Were there other places where lyricists could assume such jewelry to be known?

(I remember the time when coral necklaces were fashionable in Europe, imported, of course, and always red or pink. I found them horrible, firmly associated to "maiden aunts without any understanding of little boys - and vice versa".)